MSI GTX 980 Gaming Edition 4G Throttling? Faulty Bios? Aggresive Temp limit?

Hey everyone, I've been trying to find a thread regarding the issue or shall i say experience i am having with the MSI 980 so i thought ill start a thread.

I received my 980 yesterday, as you may know the fans don't spool up until the card reaches 61c. I've noticed when the temp reaches 62c my card starts downclocking the core by 16mhz and voltage by 25. I do not understand why if this is a temp limit why is it at 61c when the fans actually only spool up then? Why is it not at 81c like the 970 G1 Gaming i had (never experienced anything like this with it and it boosted 1392mhz out of the box) Is the bios faulty?

I started to increase the Power Limit to 122 and prioritized the temp (91) and that did not help. Sometimes it's averaging at 80 90 and sometimes it actually reaches 105 etc but i have not seen it go any higher than 110. The power limit has reached 110 but this was at 59c but the core and voltage was still at stock. (1342mhz core 1.225v)

As this did not help I increased the voltage by +7 and then the core went back to 1342mhz and voltage back to 1.225 (Goes to 1.200 when it throttles). at 65c it drops back again. So i increased the voltage again to +13, then at 68 69c it drops again. then at +20 the core and voltage is sustained at 1342mhz and voltage 1.225.

Does anyone know why this is happening? My MSi 970 Gaming Edition did the same thing but my Gigabyte 970 Gaming G1 did not do that. I am considering on buying the 980 G1 instead as i think they have the temp limit to 81c so if it reaches such temp it throttles to bring the temp down. Some people have experienced this on the G1 only a few as far as i'm aware.

Any thoughts? RMA? try the G1 as i never experienced it with that ?

 

Just to mention i can overclock it at 1535mhz on 1.200 once it "throttles"

 

Remix lol joined the big boy forums!

I told you its the BIOS or the chip you got.

Send it back to Overclockers and the get another one if it does the same thing then send it back again and get the G1.

 

Haha yeah. I just didn't want to send it back as it's very quiet and it can still overclock but if it is an issue then I wouldn't want to keep it as big money has been spent.

 

The settings in the bios are very mild, you can stop this from happening by using one of the custom bios' from this Page

They are a bit more aggressive and help with the throttling.

edit: they seem to have removed the MSI bios from the front page but I'm sure someone has it in the thread. I've seen it posted several times.

 

I see, but if it's normal just the way MSI have set the bios im happy with it. But if it isn't normal then im going to RMA it and buy the G1 as my 970 was the same and i'm not going to take another chance.

 

It's worth flashing the bios. It's very easy and contrary to what people say about flashing it's actually quite hard to brick a card. Even if something happens during the flash and it freezes or something then you can just boot from onboard gpu or another PC and reflash it.

 

I understand it might be easy but i shouldn't need to do this on a £470 component. It should be normal as mentioned if it is normal I'm happy to keep it, if not ill RMA and buy the G1 as the G1 is better overall except it is slightly louder

 

Hah, I did it on my SLI 980's the second I could. EVGA allow custom bios' as long as it doesn't lead to physical damage.

If you want to fix the issue without a bios flash then maybe look at better cooling/increased fanspeed. Something like the kraken G10.

 

Hm i don't think I should have to do that as mentioned if this is how MSI have set the card to perform I'm happy with it. If not it will go back. It might obviously be the BIOS but if it is just a dodgy bios then it's time to RMA it.

 

Do you experience downclocking on your 980 G1? as im thinking of purchasing it if my issue is not normal.

 

Must be 3,5gb memory.

 

Sorry I don't understand? Only the 970's have that issue. I see you have the MSI 970, do you experience downclocking?

 

@faheem22 - Just flash a modded bios or install an AIO liquid cooler on it.You'll be most happy.Yea I agree you should not have to but that's the direction the Gpu tech has gone.If you want to get away from the throttling you'll have to keep those temps in check somehow.

 

I see. So is it normal for it to throttle at 62c? Should only be at 80c to prevent the temps to go higher.

My bro has the 980 strixx and his doesn't throttle. I still have a chance for an exchange or replacement.

My question is, is it suppose to throttle as that low of a temp? If not I'm happy to buy the g1 as that doesn't have that issue. Is it an issue with the bios? Or just how the bios is programmed by msi.?

 

These cards downclock by power consumption, load and temps.

Do you have the MSI Gaming app installed?

 

Yeah it down clocks when I am in game at 90% Gpu usage. Yes they downclock if the load is low. But it throttling at 62c under load doesn't make sense as my 970 g1 didn't do that. Many people don't have that issue my bro doesn't with his 980 strixx. This msi seems like a pain in the 8$$

No I don't have it installed. I did install Gpu z to check the stats and it seems normal

 

It could be how MSI intended it to operate or it can be a faulty bios.If you can replace it with the G1 version as you say those don't have this problem, then you should definitely go that route.

 

I'm pretty sure the g1 doesn't have this issue. Someone else did with the windforce oc 970 but that has different tdp levels etc than the g1 and that's only 2 people. I'm hoping it's how msi intended to operate the Gpu with extremely aggressive temp limits as yes I would be happy with the g1 but I will miss how quiet the Msi is. The g1 is also quiet though but not as good . It seems like there arent many people experiencing this.

 

If it's not a hassle for you to get the G1 just do that and save your sanity.